Inland City Vows to Become A Key Tourism AttractionUrumqi, capital of northwest China' s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has made it a target to build itself into a famous tourism city, sources with the regional government said.Yang Gang, secretary of the city committee of the Chinese Communist Party, said the city government has decided to allocate 10 million yuan to improve local water, electricity and traffic facilities annually. Preferential policies will be given to those who intend to invest in the city's tourism industry, according to Yang. The latest statistics show that in the first five months of this year, Urumqi, the farthest city from the sea in the world, received 1.26 million domestic and overseas visitors, 30 percent more than the same period last year. The city harvested nearly 300 million yuan in this sector during the five-month period. According to a plan, construction of tourism projects will be carried out in Dabancheng, an important post on the ancient Silk Road. The projects include a world-class hunting field, with an investment of 200 million yuan, and a cultural center, covering more than 30 hectares in area, which consists of a music hall named after a Chinese famous musician Wang Luobin and a showroom housing folk art and customs of 13 minority ethnic groups. The regional bureau of communications plans to invest 12 million yuan to improve roads leading to Dabancheng, which is not far away from Urumqi. At the same time, the Xinjiang Shoude Company will invest 380 million yuan to build a Asian Park, where visitors can enjoy and appreciate the folk culture of 48 countries, in the Asia Center in Urumqi. A businessman from Hong Kong has decided to invest more than 200 million yuan to reform a market famous for selling goods of various ethnic groups in Urumqi, sources said. |
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